French lawyer Ronald Sokol explains in an op-ed in the New York Times today why the Roman Polaski arrest doesn't sit will with him. It's a law-based article. the highlights:

Despite the certainty of guilt and the crime’s gravity, the prosecutor’s belated pursuit is both legally and morally troubling. A prosecuting attorney in Los Angeles has sought his extradition from Switzerland based on a treaty between Switzerland and the United States.

An extradition treaty is simply a written agreement between two countries whereby each agrees to surrender to the other country persons sought for specified crimes. The crimes include most felonies. It is normal practice for a nation not to extradite one of its own citizens. For this reason France would not agree to extradite Mr. Polanski, if it had been asked to do so, because he is a French citizen, but as he does not have Swiss citizenship and was arrested in Zurich, this exception does not apply.

[More...]

It's a perfect fall day here, I'm headed out to enjoy it. And then back to cook a long, slow chili using the recipe in my 1969 edition of Alice's Restaurant Cookbook.
There are fancier ways to make red chili, but this one is the favorite in my house.

For those of you not following football, here's an open thread for all other topics.

President's weekly address:

Helen Thomas asks if the President will offer more than pretty words and concern:

The most important games of the weekend include USC at Cal, Oklahoma at Miami and LSU at Georgia. Florida is off this week as we await the call on whether Tim Tebow can play next week. Here are my picks for today's games:

USC is a 5 point favorite over a Cal team reeling from a 39 point beatdown in Autzen. USC has better players, has already suffered its yearly Pac 10 letdown and Barkley is back. I like the Trojans (-5) in Berkeley. And we'll be hearing a lot of this today.

The Wolverines travel to East Lansing to face the hapless Spartans. While Michigan is not anything special in my mind, and this should be a perfect spot for Sparty, I think the Forciers (+3) beat their little Cousinses. In other words, Hail to the Victors. More . . .

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments last week in a civil case brought by Pamela Phillips against BATF Agents whom she claims illegally wiretapped her. The issue is whether the BATF agents are immune from her suit.

There is an active arrest warrant out for Phillips in Arizona, on charges she conspired to commit first degree murder by hiring a former boyfriend to kill her husband. Her husband, real estate developer Gary Triano was killed in 1996 when a pipe bomb in his car exploded at a country club in Tuscon. She took off, reportedly to....Switzerland. [More...]

ABC News has a headline, Sex Scandal Sheds Light on David Letterman's Love Life. Why doesn't that read "Extortion Scandal Sheds Light on Letterman's Love Life?"

What did Letterman do wrong? Since when it is illegal or immoral to have sex with someone you work with, or even someone who works for you? Has our Nanny State mentality sunk to the level where it is believed that all romantic or sexual relationships in the workplace are a form of sexual harassment?

The story here is that someone who worked for the CBS network allegedly tried to extort money from Letterman and got caught on tape and taking a marked check. [More...]

Republican Senator Charles Grassley today said a Democratic amendment to the health care reform bill that passed early this morning will raise prescription Medicare drug premiums.

How so?

As the prescription benefit is designed now, taxpayers cover three-fourths of the cost of the benefit, while Medicare recipients pay the remaining 25 percent.

The amendment would allow the new Medicare commission to recommend "reductions in federal premium subsidies" to the private insurance plans that deliver the prescription drug benefit. Grassley's office said the "premium subsidies" are taxpayers' share of the cost of the prescription plan. If those are reduced, the plans will make up the difference by raising premiums for seniors.

[More...]

Good for Taylor Branch (and Somerby and Digby), but it does not matter anymore. The Media has no credibility. Not any part of it.

And the progressive blogs can not now pretend they did not play along in the 2008 primaries. To this day, they lionize Olbermann, who is as big a hack as there is (even when he hacks for things I like, like the public option.)

It's too late for the Media, and in some ways, too late for the blogs too. (Speaking for me only of course.)

This is an Open Thread.

Ezra's got his dander up:

[T]he drama came late in the evening. About one in the morning, Wyden's Free Choice Act came before the committee. But it never came up for a vote. [. . .] The proposal was doomed by the joint opposition of businesses and labor.

This was, in other words, a battle over the sufficiency of the status quo. And the Senate Finance Committee, hearing complaints from those who preside over a health-care system that works so poorly, sided with the status quo.

Funny how when it's a proposal Ezra cares about, it is an outrage that the status quo is being protected. When it's Medicare For All (which had as realistic a chance of being enacted as Wyden's bill - zero) or any public option for that matter, Ezra is all "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Ironic.

Speaking for me only

Update: 10:49 MT: Rio takes it.

Watch announcement live here.

The 2016 Olympics will not be taking place in Chicago. The city has been eliminated from consideration in the first round of voting. President Obama was flying back to the U.S. when the vote took place.

Chicago spent $50 million on the failed bid. The delegation was led by Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, with a personal visit by President Obama. Did our over-strict airport policies play a role in the rejection?[More...]

What I'm reading:

• Federal Judge orders release of most of Dick Cheney's Valerie Plame interview

• David Letterman reveals extortion plot over his intimate relationships with employees -- plotter who worked for CBS' 48 Hours is arrested and suspended. The Manhattan DA's office used a sting to get the suspect, identified as producer Robert "Joe" Halderman.

• McCain Aide says Palin would be disasterous for GOP in 2012; There are few takers for her talks on the lecture circuit.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Some welcome news to report on DNA testing in innocence claims:

Funded by a $1.2 million federal grant and using the latest DNA technology, Colorado prosecutors hope to review as many as 5,000 rape, murder and manslaughter convictions in the next 18 months to determine whether any inmates currently in Colorado prisons were unjustly convicted.

....Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said they, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and law students, will conduct a "systematic review" of cases where defendants may have been unjustly convicted, using DNA testing as a critical component in the review.

[More...]